


round and round (like a horse on a carousel)

by CascadedSunsets



Series: Hogwarts au [1]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Cheryl Blossom & Jughead Jones Friendship, F/M, Fluff, Hogwarts First Year, Hufflepuff!Betty, I just had to do it, Ravenclaw!Jughead, Reggie Mantle & Jughead Jones friendship, and hatreds, basically it’s a hogwarts au, im gonna do a mini book on every year, just crushes, just fluff mainly, no big stuff yet, no real relationships, reggie is genuinely a nice guy, since it’s first year
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2020-04-12
Packaged: 2021-02-26 08:08:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21966214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CascadedSunsets/pseuds/CascadedSunsets
Summary: Betty sat on the cushy seat of the train, tapping her Mary Jane flats nervously. This was not the smoothest train ride she’d ever had, what with the constant bumps and rocks beneath her.Her subtly striped black tights moved with her legs as if welded together; she still didn’t understand why she had to wear them, but her mother had told her they were an important part of her uniform and that it couldn’t be helped.She looked out the window and immediately turned back to look straight ahead, feeling nauseous at the sight of her old life getting farther and farther away from her in a whirl. It was like her father always said: absence makes the heart grow fonder.———Or, the hogwarts au everyone knew I was gonna make.
Relationships: Archie Andrews/Valerie Brown, Betty Cooper/Archie Andrews, Betty Cooper/Jughead Jones
Series: Hogwarts au [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1581325
Comments: 8
Kudos: 25





	1. Chapter one: The Train Ride

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! Welcome to my first story on ao3, and I’ve started with a hogwarts one, obviously. So I’m planning to make a mini book, as in, 5 or 6 chapters, on each year, and then make this a series. 
> 
> Since this is the first year book, and they’re only about eleven years old or so, so there will not be any real relationships just yet. Somewhat strong crushes, probably, but I’m not about to make a bunch of eleven year olds make out.
> 
> Also, Cheryl and jughead are bffs since birth, because I couldn’t pass up the opportunity.
> 
> Title from Carousel, by Melanie Martinez.
> 
> Alright, without further ado, let’s jump right in!

“ _There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children_.”-  Nelson Mandela

  
Betty sat on the cushy seat of the train, tapping her Mary Jane flats nervously. This was _not_ the smoothest train ride she’d ever had, what with the constant bumps and rocks beneath her.

Her subtly striped black tights moved with her legs as if welded together; she still didn’t understand why she had to wear them, but her mother had told her they were an important part of her uniform and that it couldn’t be helped.

She looked out the window and immediately turned back to look straight ahead, feeling nauseous at the sight of her old life getting farther and farther away from her in a whirl. It was like her father always said: absence makes the heart grow fonder.

She turned her neck slightly and caught sight of the fiery red hair of her best friend, Archie Andrews. He sat diagonal to her and he was still in his home clothes, though they were only a mere fifteen minutes from their destination, and was currently stuffing his face with some pumpkin pasties that someone had brought by earlier. That had been five minutes ago, and he’d already demolished half of the whole stash. She sighed fondly and supposed all boys were like that.

Her and Archie Andrews had been inseparable ever since he had pulled her out of the mud when she had slipped when they were seven. He had hugged her and by the time they pulled away from each other, he was as muddy as her. He had helped her to her house and she had discovered they were direct neighbours. A few sleepovers and midnight talks through their windows later, they were the bestest of friends.

He noticed her looking and his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “What? Do I have something on my face?” He asked, attempting to wipe at his face and completely missing the spot on which the remains of a pumpkin pasty lay. When he pulled back and saw nothing on his hands, he shrugged and said teasingly, “Guess I’m just that handsome then.” He grinned at her soft giggle.

“Sure you are, Archie Andrews,” she replied with a soft shake of her head, “Sure you are.”

“Hey, when do you think we’ll get there? It’s been _ ages  _ already,” Archie said dramatically, though he wasn’t wrong. They had been on this train for about 4 hours already. She checked her watch and saw the time. 8:40.

“Ten minutes,” she said warningly, her eyes darting to his robes, splayed out in a crumple next to him. His eyes widened and he jumped up, all of the pasty wrappers on his lap dropping to the carriage floor. He grabbed his robe with greasy hands from the food and she winced, her OCD overwhelming her. He managed a quick “Catch you later!” Before starting down the train corridor with an immense amount of speed and in record time. Betty wasn’t surprised. He played football and rugby back home.

She turned back to her own robes, flowing down her figure, solid black until she found out her house. It wasn’t a surprise to her; all of the Coopers were Hufflepuffs and her mother had basically erased the idea of her getting sorted into another house, dismissing it as “Utter nonsense, Betty, sweetie”. She figured she was right.

**********

  
Jughead stirred awake as he felt the consistent prodding of an index finger on his shoulder. He figured they had arrived, so he didn’t push the finger off and rubbed his eyes. “Are we here, Cher?” He yawned sleepily.

“Nope! Another fifteen minutes still to go!” She replied in a cheerful voice which she knew perfectly well annoyed him to bits, especially when he was awoken against his will or without food, but he loved her for it. She knew he did.

“Why in God’s name did you wake me up then?” He grumbled, already getting in position to fall back asleep, but she started prodding him again and he pushed her finger off and murmured, “Fine. What is it?”

She flipped her long red hair over her shoulder. “What house am I going to be in?”

He sighed frustratedly. “Again? We’ve been over this already, Cheryl.”

“Shush. Just answer the question, grouch.”

He waited a moment before answering. “Ravenclaw.”

“And how do you know?”

“Your family are a generation of Gryffindors, but you’re going to repeatedly and mentally ask the sorting hat to sort you into Ravenclaw.” He recited. She’d done this to him 5 times today, and 40 other times since the day they’d both been posted their letters of acceptance.

“And what house are  you  going to be in?” She asked and waited expectantly for the answer she wanted from him.

“Ravenclaw,” he answered, a twinge of uncertainty tainting his words.

“How do you know?” She raised an eyebrow warningly, as if daring him to be self deprecating.

He hesitated for a moment before answering grudgingly, “My family are a generation of Slytherins, but I’m brainier and less brute than all of them combined.” He finished, gritting the last word through his teeth. Cheryl gave a hum of approval and lightly punched his shoulder.

“There we go, now we’re making progress!” He didn’t miss the unsaid  _ albeit slower than planned  _ at the end of that sentence.

“Really though, Cheryl. There is a possibility that all these  _incantations_ —“  She glared at him, “—You’re making us do is for nothing. I mean, what if the hat doesn’t listen to you and you get sorted into Gryffindor after all? What if it doesn’t think I’m capable of handling being in the Ravenclaw house? Just whisks me away into the sea of Slytherins like my dad always wanted? We’ll barely see each other for the next seven years,” He vented, then added on quietly, “I don’t think I’d be able to handle that.”

Cheryl’s gaze softened as she reached out to pull him into a hug. He was still her height, so reaching him was relatively easy, but she knew it wouldn’t last. Once she pulled away, she grasped his shoulders and coaxed him to look into her eyes. “You listen here, Jughead Jones. I don’t _ever_ want to hear you talk about yourself like that again, you heard? You are the absolute smartest person I know, considering you’re the only person who would skip your own birthday to go to the  _ library _ ,” she made a gagging gesture with her fingers and mouth and he chuckled. “You won’t even have to ask to get sorted into that house, because you’re way too good for it by, like, a  _long shot_.  And even if we do happen to get sorted into different houses, don’t underestimate my ability to sneak into the Ravenclaw common room with 10 bags of Walkers,” she added with a wink. He laughed and pulled her in for a hug again.

“No Cher, you’re way too good for  _ me _ .” He murmured. She pulled back and grinned.

“Why of course, you’re my bestie, and anything for my best.” He laughed again. He looked outside and noticed the train rattle to a stop. Two seconds later, the whistle blew, and they heard shuffling and movement outside their carriage. He grabbed her hand and hauled her up.

“Well come on then,  _ bestie _ , let’s go before the train leaves with us still on it.”

  
  



	2. Chapter 2: The First Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “That’s not where the play starts,” he said earnestly, though he couldn’t help but grin at how much of a big friendly giant this kid was.
> 
> “You sure? Doesn’t it start with the girl who like really loves the guy and then she almost drowns from the boat they’re both on—“
> 
> “I believe that’s Titanic.”
> 
> “Oh, yeah. That movie was really sad. I cried, like, three times,” Reggie shook his head in, seemingly, shame.
> 
> “But, Leonardo DiCaprio is a bit fit, so it’s okay. Seriously though, I don’t understand how someone can be pretty even when they’re dead. Like, good genes worked its magic there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year, everyone! Hopefully, 2020’s not as shit a year as 2019 was. Here's to many more memories!!
> 
> This took a while. The second chapters are always the hardest for me to write. They're also the longest, so yeah, this took a millennial, but we got there.
> 
> Unbeta’d. All mistakes are mine.

Betty got off of the train with a reasonably untidy looking Archie. The telltale signs of his food frenzy earlier were still faintly visible on his cheeks; his hair was dishevelled from putting on his robe and said robe had creases and was crooked on his broad frame. He still looked as cute as ever, and Betty thought she might have the  _ tiniest  _ crush on him.

Betty had known this information for quite a while, but she had squashed those thoughts down or dismissed them as best friend love. However, she was starting to see signs that contradicted that, like how she could stare at him all day, or how his smile could make her melt. This was undoubtedly more than friendship.

The truth is, her mother would love her to be with someone like Archie. He was pure blood and had generations of Gryffindor ancestry. Betty supposed being with him wouldn’t be all that bad either.

She walked beside him as they walked in line with the other students. He was engaged in some football-related debate, she guessed, with Chuck Clayton. Truth is she had tuned out after Manchester United was mentioned. She instead focused her attention on the millions of stars littering the sky above them, like every single one of them, had been put carefully into a specific place, so they made tiny constellations together. She was so absorbed in them that she bumped into the student in front of her, who had stopped, and was met with a glare.

“..and remember the safety precautions.” Floated a voice from the front of the heap. She recognised it as Professor Weatherbee’s, from the voice in her acceptance letter, and strained to listen from the back.

“There will be two of every year and one professor in each fifteen seater boat. The seventh years will row. Understood?” There was a chorus of a mixture of ‘Yes sir!’s from the first years and affirmative mutterings from the other years. Betty figured they’d heard this one hundred times before.

“Good. Now let’s do this in an orderly fashion. Professors, stand by the boat you’ve been assigned, please. You have a list of the fourteen other members of your boat. When you hear your name get called, stand with your Professor. You may begin.”

Everyone stayed silent as each Professor read out their list. Betty had been paired with her sister Polly, who was the third year, some others, and somebody in her year called Veronica Lodge. 

The boat ride was relatively quiet for Betty, the others chatting excitedly while she found comfort in looking up at the stars.

“They’re beautiful, aren’t they?” Came a voice, startling her. She looked to find the girl in her year, Veronica, looking up at the sky too. “All the tiny little stars working together to paint a perfect picture.” She turned to look back at her.

_Wow_.  Whoever this girl was, she was terrific with words. Betty found herself intrigued. Between her black bow loafers and a rich array of jewellery, she didn’t think this Veronica girl would know much past a 20-pound bill, as mean as it sounded. Her surprise must have been evident on her face because Veronica scoffed and looked back up.

“I know it doesn’t look like I’d know much past the cost of a Fila 2, but believe me, I know things.”

“No-no, I wasn’t—“

“Oh, don’t worry love, I’m not offended,” Veronica looked back down at her and grabbed her hand. Betty stared down at her lap.

“I’m sorry, it’s just that I’m not used to people being as interested in the sky as I am,” Betty replied, positively embarrassed by her blatant prejudices. She’d always been afraid of people judging her by her looks, yet here she was.

“The stars always got me through the rough days,” Veronica coaxed her to look back up at her, “whenever my parents would fight, or my magic would show in public, the stars helped me de-stress.” Once again, Betty was surprised at how much she and this girl had in common.

“My parents fight a lot too,” Betty began in a quiet voice, “the stars helped me drown it out.”

“I suppose headphones could never do the trick for us, could they?” Betty laughed and shook her head. She spared a glance at Polly and wondered how she always managed to stay unaffected.

“Never.” 

Veronica nudged her arm and smiled. “Look at us, bonding over the millions of suns in the sky,” She said. “and guess what?”

“What?”

“Daddy told me there were even more in the Great Hall!” Veronica said excitedly, clapping her hands together, a wide grin splitting her cheeks. It was contagious, and Betty found herself smiling too, though she had no idea what she meant by that. The Great Hall was inside, no?

Veronica squeezed Betty’s hand affectionately. “You know, I think the two of us are going to be excellent friends. BFFs, maybe. Even if we get put into different houses. The two of us, the brightest stars in the sky.” Betty couldn’t help but agree.

“The brightest.”

*********

Jughead’s first thought when getting off of the train was:  _ it’s cold as hell out here. _

He barely listened to the talk Professor Weatherbee gave; his father had already drilled the procedure through his mind, and he knew it by the back of his hand. When his name got called, he walked to the Professor with no trouble. He had been paired with a kid in his year called Reggie Mantle, and one look at him told him they would never be friends. 

During the boat ride, however, Reggie started talking with significant enthusiasm. 

“ Bro,  this place is awesome!” Jughead wondered briefly if he was American.

“Look at the water. It’s so cool!” Jughead couldn’t disagree; however, his sarcasm got the better of him at that moment.

“Jump right in, I’m sure you’ll do great,” Jughead replied and immediately regretted it. The guy was only trying to be polite. To his credit, though, he merely brushed it off with a grin.

“Oh, so you’re the sarcastic type, then,” His grin widened. “I’ll have you know; I’m smarter than I look. I can quote the whole Romeo and Juliet play off by heart, look.  Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo— “ Jughead interrupted him.

“That’s not where the play starts,” he said earnestly, though he couldn’t help but grin at how much of a big friendly giant this kid was. 

“You sure? Doesn’t it start with the girl who like really loves the guy and then she almost drowns from the boat they’re both on—“

“I believe that’s Titanic.”

“Oh, yeah. That movie was really sad. I cried, like,  _three times_ , ” Reggie shook his head in, seemingly, shame.

“But, Leonardo DiCaprio is a bit fit, so it’s okay. Seriously though, I don’t understand how someone can be pretty even when they’re  _dead_. Like, good genes worked its magic there.”

While he continued to talk, Jughead could only stare in fascination. There were a lot of things he couldn’t understand about this kid. The first being how he had so much energy after a four-hour train journey. 

He also couldn’t understand how he was so genuinely friendly, even when people like him didn’t appreciate it at first. Usually, Jughead liked people with book smarts and who could hold a conversation about, say,  the stars beneath our feet,  or,  one of us is lying.

Reggie, however lacking in both common sense and book sense, was probably the kind of guy who  would read one of us is lying, simply to hold a conversation about it because someone had said they’d liked it, even though he probably wouldn’t understand it at all. 

That’s why Jughead thought he was so likeable that even his sardonic self was not immune to his loving nature.

“..also, can you just picture how much food there’s gonna be in that Hall?”

_ That _ got Jughead’s attention.

“Why will there be a lot?”

Reggie laughed and slapped his shoulder lightly. “A lot? A lot?? There will probably be gallons of food just waiting for us!”

Jughead managed to bite back his remark about the correct units to use with food.

“Or maybe they’ll just whip it all up on the spot with the magic,” Reggie wondered, “With their awesome advanced wizardry.”

“Probably. You know, cause they’re wizards.” Jughead pulled down his beanie, so it covered his ears, which were starting to redden from the cold.

Reggie laughed again and nudged him. “I like the way you think, bro. I think we’re gonna be not-horrible around each other.”

“You know Reggie; I think we may be not-horrible too.”

*********

Once Betty got off the boat, she had to wait a minute for the feeling to come back in her legs. That had been a long boat ride, and she’d made the mistake of crossing her legs the entire way. She felt Veronica steady her and smiled.

Veronica grabbed her hand and pulled her alongside the other members of the boat. Polly slowed her walks so they could catch up and smiled at Betty when they had.

“It’s all so surreal, isn’t it?” She said with glee. Betty nodded and grinned.

“That’s what I felt the first time I saw it, too. You’ll get used to it, sis.” She smiled again and walked away to catch up with her friends. Veronica turned to her.

“That your sister?”

“Yeah.”

“I should’ve figured. You look so alike.” Betty smiled.

“Do you have any siblings?”

“Not that I know of,” Veronica replied, then shrugged. “It gets kinda lonely, but it’s nice not having anyone to argue with.”

“I can be your sister,” When Veronica raised her eyebrows, she added on quickly, “not literally, of course, just..in a friendly sense.” 

“I know what you meant, Betty dear, it’s just, I thought we were already sisters?” It was Betty’s turn to raise her eyebrows as they walked up the steps to the castle.

“You know, the stars in the sky. All-stars have to be related, no?” 

Betty couldn’t find it in herself to disagree.

“Yeah. I guess they do.” Veronica smiled wider and squeezed her hand tighter. 

“Come on; we’re almost there.” As they rounded the corner with the others, the Great Hall suddenly came into view.

“Oh, so it’s just the Great Dining Room, then?” Betty made to enter in but was stopped by Veronica.

“We’re first years; we have to wait here for Professor Weatherbee to come and get us, remember? He said it just before we got on the boats.” She said, gesturing to the crowd of first years waiting by the stairs to the towers.

Betty supposed she’d tuned that bit out.

She saw Archie talking to Chuck, his back to her, and made her way to him, pulling Veronica by her hand. Once she reached him, she tapped his shoulder, so he turned around to face her. 

“Oh, hey Betts,” his gaze travelled to Veronica, and he stopped talking. Betty darted her eyes to Veronica and found she was smiling politely. To her relief, Veronica didn’t seem interested. She grabbed her arm and smiled at him.

“Veronica, this is Archie. Archie, Veronica.”

“Andrews. Archie Andrews,” Archie replied breathlessly, almost ignoring Betty completely as he made to shake Veronica’s hand. Veronica took it and said, “Veronica Lodge, nice to meet you.”

“Woah, who is this?” Came a voice from behind him. Archie scoffed and turned to it.

“Lay off, Chuck,” he turned back to Veronica, “she’s not interested.”

“Sorry, he’s a bit of a chav. He’s all talk.”Veronica giggled lightly at that and nodded her okay.

“It’s fine,” she replied. Betty watched all of this with unease. Archie was clearly interested in Veronica, though if Veronica felt the same way, she wasn’t sure.

“Alright, first years, settle down,” came a voice from the entrance of the Great Hall.

“If you didn’t know already, I’m Professor Weatherbee,” Betty turned her head, “and I’ll be leading you in shortly. As you know, first-years are to be sorted into either Gryffindor, the Lion; Ravenclaw, the Raven; Hufflepuff, the Badger; or Slytherin, the Snake.” Betty sighed. She was sure everyone knew this already.

“Each house has a common room, of which you will find your schedules and robes. Quidditch sign up sheets are also present in these common rooms, and rehearsals will commence on Saturday.”

“Most common rooms will need a code, which your prefect will tell you, but Ravenclaw will require the answer to a riddle. I’m sure those of you who get put into Ravenclaw will handle it just fine.”

“Now, without further ado, follow me, please.” Betty followed along with the rest of the first years, and upon entering, found the whole hall of students quieting down until silence remained. They walked down the middle, Weatherbee stopping right in front of the sorting hat. She turned back to the first years and gestures to the hat.

“This hat will determine which house you will be in for the rest of your Hogwarts journey. It can be easily influenced,” Betty swore she saw him glare at it, “but I trust you won’t do anything to sway its decision. We’ll be doing this in alphabetical order, starting with Dexter Aaron.”

Betty didn’t listen to the first few names, just clapped when it was required until she heard Archie’s.

“Archibald Andrews.” Archie exchanged a look with Chuck, then climbed up the stairs and sat on the stool. The sorting hat was placed on his head, and it took a while for it to decide. She watched its face scrunch up and contort in concentration.

“Gryffindor!” An eruption of cheers emerged from the table which Betty guessed was the Gryffindor’s, a few at the end, spreading their arms out to welcome him. Betty saw the grin spread on his face and couldn’t help but grin herself. It wasn’t surprising, but the confirmation was a relief.

“Charles Clayton.”

“Gryffindor!” Again, an eruption of cheers came from the Gryffindor table as Chuck grinned and ran over to the table, fist-bumping Archie. He got slaps on the back by members sitting beside him.

“Elizabeth Cooper.” Betty’s widened, and she felt her hands clamming up. This was nothing to worry about, of course, but the pressure of continuing the family’s legacy from her mother was enough to make her start crying if she didn’t. She walked up the stairs slowly and sat on the stool with grace, crossing her legs delicately. The hat was placed on her and shouted without any hesitation;

“Hufflepuff!” Betty felt herself visibly relax at the word, and ran over to the cheering Hufflepuff table, getting squeezes on the shoulder as she slotted in. Veronica caught her eye and grinned before pointing at the ceiling. Betty looked up to find..stars. Stars? Her eyebrows raised in surprise as she looked back down at Veronica with a confused expression on her face, but she’d already turned away.

“You know it’s not real, right?” Came a small voice next to her. She jumped. 

What was it with everyone and surprising her today?

“It’s just an illusion,” the boy filled in at her knitted eyebrows. “you know, with the magic.”

“Oh. That makes sense.” The boy grinned and nudged her.

“It’s seriously cool. The way all this can happen with just the flick of a wand,” he said eagerly, “I guess when the muggles say that it’s ‘just magic’, they’re right.”

Betty returned the grin and nodded. 

“I guess they are.”

********

“Ravenclaw!”

When Jughead heard the words, he was undoubtedly surprised.

He didn’t think he’d be put in Ravenclaw, but when he caught his redheaded best friend’s eye, and she grinned and waved him over, he didn’t dwell on it for the first time in his life. 

He sat down next to her and waited for the inevitable  told you so.

Sure enough, it came.

“Told you,” Cheryl said in a sing-song voice, bopping his nose in self-satisfaction. He rolled his eyes but let her bask in the relief. 

She, of the two of them, deserved it most. 

“Reginald Mantle.”

Jughead turned his head away from her to watch his new companion get sorted. He hadn’t believed him earlier about getting put in Ravenclaw, so, once again, he was caught by surprise when it shouted out:

“Ravenclaw!”

Cheers erupted from his table, and he clapped loudly while he grinned at Reggie. Cheryl was no doubt staring at him in bewilderment, but he ignored her and kept his head facing Reggie. Reggie almost ran towards them in delight. He sat down and pushed Jughead to the side playfully. 

“What’d I tell you,  _Forsythe_ , ” he shot him glare at the use of his real name, but he only smiled teasingly, “I’m a genius.”

Jughead couldn’t help but laugh at his antics. Reggie’s friendliness was genuinely infectious.

He heard a sharp cough from behind him and turned to face Cheryl again, who was staring at him pointedly. 

“And when were you going to introduce me?”

He laughed and shook his head. “We just met on the boats, Cher. This is Reggie, otherwise known as  The kid who cries. ”

“I only did it three times!” The boy cried out in frustration. Jughead laughed and, to his surprise, Cheryl gave out a small giggle too. He raised an eyebrow at her, and she sighed in return.

“I suppose if Jughead can tolerate you, then I should be able to too,” She said slowly, then smiled and held out her hand to him. “Cheryl Blossom. It’s mediocre to meet you.” 

Jughead rolled his eyes at her words but supposed that was the best Reggie was gonna get from her. Reggie held out his hand, and they shook each other from either side of Jughead. 

“Reggie Mantle. Boy, you Ravenclaws sure use big words. Hey, have you ever heard of  Romeo and Titanic ? Tuesday Addams over here was telling me about it and—“

“Wednesday Addams, Reg,” Jughead held the bridge of his nose in exasperation. “It’s Wednesday.”

*******

Before she knew it, the sorting had ended, the food had been devoured, and Betty was being escorted to the Hufflepuff common room by the Hufflepuff perfect, along with all the other first-year Hufflepuffs. The boy from earlier, who had introduced himself as Kevin, stayed glued to her side and she wondered what he was so afraid of if he was afraid.

How would she know? She was terrible at reading people. 

It took a while, with a lot of stairs and paintings that were alive and  scary (she’d even encountered one with Hermione

Granger, her magical idol, in it. That had been interesting), but eventually they reached, what looked like, the kitchen entrance. The perfect opened the door, rushed past the working elves, and came to a sudden and random stop in the kitchen corridor. 

“Where have you taken us? It’s midnight, and I’m  tired, ” Kevin exclaimed in exasperation. The perfect ignored him and moved to the right side of the corridor, beckoning for them to follow. He looked into some kind of nook in the wall and muttered a sentence under his breath. Suddenly, a row of barrels appeared, and Betty stared in awe. 

The prefect turned to face them and pointed at the barrels. “Two from the bottom, middle of the second row,” he began authoritatively. Betty was sure she could see some green vines spilling out of the top slightly. “tap it in the rhythm of  Helga Hufflepuff , and the lid will swing open. Do not miss a single syllable, or the barrel will be sure to not only not let you in, but demand absolute precision any other time you do it. Understood?” There were nods from the collection of yawning first years, and he turned around and tapped the barrel five times, the first two being slower than the last three. The lid immediately swung open, and the first years climbed down one by one, the perfect going last.

Betty jumped down only to find her feet hit a concrete floor. She got down on all fours and crawled through the narrow passageway, and, when she reached the end, she jumped down and came face to face with the common room. 

It was too dark for Betty to see anything other than an array of dark plants littering the room. 

“Dormitories are in there,” the prefect pointed to two tunnel-looking passages next to the stairs, ”girls are the right, boys the left. Quidditch signs up sheets are on the table, along with any extracurriculars. Do not disturb the plants at night; they’re likely to forgive you, but not easily. Goodnight.” With that, the prefect left them to climb the stairs to what Betty assumed were the upper school dorms. 

Kevin immediately pushed past everyone to get to the tunnel, waving goodnight to Betty before sliding down. Betty found herself tired as well, and shuffled to her tunnel, sliding down it and landing on her feet. She came to three doors: one said; first, one said second and the other third. She entered the one saying first on a whim and went to the first-year girls’ dormitories. It was centred around the colour yellow, obviously, and Betty immediately found the bed she’d been assigned, noting the presence of her suitcase, which contained her wand, her home clothes and her winter wear. 

It also contained her toiletries and pyjamas, but Betty was, admittedly embarrassingly, too tired to brush her teeth and honestly just wanted to change and get into bed. She pulled the curtain that came along so that nobody would see her and changed into her pyjamas before flopping on the bed unceremoniously. As soon as her head touched the pillow, she was out.

*******

When Jughead woke up the next day, he didn’t recognise where he was at first. He was in a soft bed that wasn’t his, he was looking up to windows and what looked like the point of a tower, and his beanie was nowhere to be found. He straightened immediately to gauge his surroundings before falling back into his bed with a thud, the memories flooding his brain all at once.

_ Right. He was a wizard.  _

He didn’t know when he was ever gonna get over that, but he knew it wasn’t any time soon. Truth is, he’d always known he was different from the other kids at school, but it hadn’t really sunk in until he’d received the acceptance letter by an owl on the dot of his eleventh birthday. 

His parents had always turned to look the other way whenever he mentioned shattering glass with his mind or making clouds disappear without physicality. But when he received the letter to some school for wizards (though admittedly he’d thought it was a scam at first), his father had been over the moon and pulled him into a hug, whispering proud nothings to his ear as not to wake up his sister.

He told him that he was to be sorted in Slytherin and that he was to leave at 5 pm today. When Jughead mentioned telling his mother, his father had hushed him and told him he was never to tell his mother he was a wizard, because  she’s not magic like us. 

He told him he was a half-blood, but that it didn’t change anything because  there was worse blood to be.

Jughead still didn’t know what he meant by that.

Morning revelation over, he got out of bed with a groan and stretched, somewhat. He changed into his robes and took his toothbrush, went into the first year bathroom adjacent to Reggie’s bed, and brushed his teeth. When he came out, he took his wand and his schedule, noting there were no regular studies on it.  Defence against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Transfiguration..oh thank god, no maths.

He went out of the first-year dormitories, out of the dormitory doors and down the stairs into the Ravenclaw common room. 

The common room was vast and circular, with evenly placed bookshelves on the walls, and the midnight blue carpet was littered with stars which were reflected onto the glass-paned ceiling during the night. There was a statue right next to the stairs made of marble, and he could’ve sworn it was the one Reggie had bumped into the previous night on the way up. It was the human height, and he recognised it as  Rowena Ravenclaw. 

The windows were arched and round, and the Ravenclaw symbol adorned the blue and bronze silks hanging up at the ceiling.

There were soft royal blue armchairs scattered around the room and some study desks as well. A big bronze globe sat next to one of the bookshelves, and someone was hunched over it, so it was hard to see it from his distance. He looked ahead and saw the exit, which was the unpleasant painting he’d met last night, and it, too, had a Rowena Ravenclaw statue. 

Paintings of various people lined the walls ( alive,  no less. His father hadn’t told him about that), some of them not even in their frames, while some were saying good morning to people walking by. Some were still asleep, and some were rubbing their eyes. 

He caught sight of Cheryl, Reggie and a dark-skinned girl whom he didn’t know. He walked up to them and sat down on the couch next to Cheryl loudly. The couch dipped with his weight, and he grinned at her glare. She turned to face in front of her and Jughead followed her sight and saw Reggie and the girl talking animatedly with each other. Well, the girl was doing the talking, Reggie was just staring, in awe, he thought. 

“They’ve been like this since I got here,” Cheryl whisper-yelled to him frustratedly, “I brought Josie down and introduced them, and I’ve been a third wheel ever since.” 

Josie was her name. Cheryl was right, Reggie did seem to be in a lovestruck trance, but they were eleven, for god’s sake. They obviously didn’t know what real love was yet. It was entertaining for now, but she would become a distant memory to Reggie as time went on. 

He cleared his throat, and Josie stopped talking. Reggie snapped his head to face him. 

“Uh, Reg,” Jughead started, leaning on the edge of his seat, “who might this be?”

“Oh, yeah, this is Josie McCoy. Josie, this is Jughead Jones.” Jughead held out his hand, and Josie shook it with a polite smile.

“Jughead Jones, huh?”

“The third,” Jughead replied with a shake of his head, “trust me, the real thing is worse.”

Reggie leaned over to whisper in her ear, though both Cheryl and Jughead heard it loud and clear, ”It really is. Surprised you didn't hear it during sorting, though.”

Jughead scowled and fixed his focus onto his schedule. 

”What can I say? There were a lot of Joneses.”

Jughead looked up and cleared his throat once again. 

”Hey, do any of you have Defence Against the Dark Arts first?” 

”Reggie does.”

”Great. Come with?” Jughead picked up his bag and his wand and made to leave.

“Wait!” Reggie called out after him. He turned around and rolled his eyes and the drawn-out goodbyes between him and Josie. He saluted Cheryl then got up and jogged to him lightly.

”Done?”

”Yep, let's go.”

******

Betty was frustrated. 

The first day in and she was already flunking Defence against the Dark Arts. 

Her wand refused to do any of the spells, almost like it was  _ too nice  _ to attempt even  _Lumos_. 

She’d gained quite a few laughs from the class and had left red in the face and mortified. She hoped Herbology was a little better and familiar to her wand

As she rushed to the Herbology gardens, the wind picked up and blew her hair to her left, strands flying into her mouth and eyes. She brushed them back carelessly and hurried to pat her hair down when she reached the gardens. She spotted Veronica and waved, but when she made to walk towards her, the Professor grabbed her shoulder and shook her head.

”Hufflepuffs partnered with Ravenclaws, Miss Cooper.”

Betty frowned and looked around the room. It was clad with Ravenclaws, but it was also clad with Hufflepuffs, and nearly all the seats were taken, except one at the very back. The Ravenclaw sat there with his head in a book, barely acknowledging the rest of the class. She walked over to him and sat down on the bench lightly. She tapped his shoulder, and he looked up at her.

“Hi!” She said enthusiastically, a wide grin splitting her cheeks. He gave her a nod and looked back down. Her smile faltered, but it didn't disappear.

”Looks like we’ll be partners this year,  then,” She tapped his shoulder once more, ”Isn’t that great?”

”Wonderful.” This time Betty did frown and picked up her bag to take out her wand. 

”Okay, suicide squad,” She muttered, though she was sure he had heard her. To her surprise, though, when she turned back to face him, She saw a small smile pulling at the corners of his lips.

”You think I’d pull off The Joker?”

”I mean, doesn't look like you'd be able to counter Batman. It seems like it’d go against your morals.”

”Oh, please. I could batter Batman any time of the day; morals be damned.”

Betty laughed at that. 

”You’ve got a big ’I'm not like the other guys’ vibe going on. Please don’t tell me you draw tears on your face with eyeliner.”

”That’s the work of amateurs. We, professionals, draw it with permanent marker.” He grinned for the first time since they’d started talking, and she laughed again and held out her hand.

”Betty Cooper. Pleased to make your acquaintance.” He shook it and smiled.

”Jughead Jones. Now, let's tackle these yelling plants together, shall we?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew, that was a lot! I'm sorry I crammed a bunch of stuff into your brains there.
> 
> I tried to make the Ravenclaw common room and the Hufflepuff entrance canon to Harry Potter but I don't know if I did that good a job. Probably not. Also, Reggie is not gonna be a douchebag in this story. I refuse. 
> 
> Anyways, to be continued.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jughead was an observer by nature.  
> He noticed the little things, from when he was four and saw the double knot on not both, but one of Cheryl’s trainers, up to this morning, when Reggie would subconsciously twiddle his fingers when talking with Josie.  
> Now, he noticed the tip of Betty’s tongue jut out as she worked with a plant of which he’d already forgotten the name.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m back from my decade long hiatus! I’ve really missed writing, but my GCSE revision was taking up all of my time. Now that I have (literally) all the time in the world, we’re back with another chapter. Again, it’s really hard for me to write in the POVs of eleven year olds, sorry for that.

Jughead was an observer by nature.

He noticed the little things, from when he was four and saw the double knot on not both, but one of Cheryl’s trainers, up to this morning, when Reggie would subconsciously twiddle his fingers when talking with Josie. 

Now, he noticed the tip of Betty’s tongue jut out as she worked with a plant of which he’d already forgotten the name. 

He watched the furrowed expression cross her face while she dug her fingers into the soil, which would, in turn, melt into a mix between satisfaction and delight, his favourite expression of hers so far.

Truth be told, he’d given up on this class long ago, finding comfort in sitting back and watching the way she seemed to win over every type of plant with just the touch of her finger.

Besides, Jughead would rather not suffer the consequences of touching a particularly spiteful herb.

By the end of the lesson, he’d complimented her on her skills about twenty times, and each time she’d brush it off with a shy smile.

”Trust me; I'm not amazing at everything. My wand just doesn't want to work in DADA.”

DADA was okay for him; he’d even go the lengths to say he was  above average  at it. His wand was harmless enough, but it seemed to hold some kind of malice right in the pits of it, and apparently, the lesson was the exact way in which it could emerge.

This really was the wand for him.

He told Betty just this, and she smiled in response.

”Well, what if we help each other out? We could be partners in DADA and Herbology and benefit from each other’s talents?” She winked as she said the last bit, and he smirked.

”Yeah. Yeah, I suppose we could.

  
—————

As the bell rang, signalling the end of class, Betty gave a quick wave his way before getting pulled away by a raven-haired girl he didn't know. He waved back slowly before gathering his books and leaving in the direction of the Great Hall.He turned in and made his way to the middle of the Ravenclaw table. 

Once there, he rolled his eyes at the sight of Cheryl, arguing with another girl he didn’t recognise. He couldn’t make out the words, so he looked at Josie for some form of coherency, only to receive a shrug in return. He shook his head back to her and sat down.

Once Cheryl had finally glared the opposing girl into stubborn submission, she sat down next to him with a huff.

“What was it this time?” He raised his eyebrow.

She turned to look at him and replied, “Antoinette Topaz. Always thinks she’s above everyone. I hate her so much.”

“Wow, sounds a lot like you,” Reggie murmured into his coke. Jughead snickered, but neither of them said anything more at both Cheryl’s and Josie’s glares.

”So,” Cheryl began, twirling the straw in her cup around and once again facing him, ”How was Herbology?”

Jughead tried to sound annoyed but only just managed to hide his smile. Unfortunately, Cheryl noticed this and raised her eyebrows in surprise. 

”Wait, but I thought you were rubbish at Herbology?”

”I am.”

”Then why have you got that goofy grin...” She trailed off in realisation and beamed at him.

”What’s her name?” She asked, wiggling her eyebrows and leaning in. Jughead rolled his eyes.

”None of your business.”

Cheryl sank in her chair and pouted at him.

”Come on, Jug, that's not fair,” Josie piped in from opposite. “at least tell her her name.”

Jughead sighed in frustration and leaned into the table so that only the four of them could hear.

”Betty Cooper.”

Cheryl and Josie leaned back in surprise, but Reggie held out his fist for Jughead to bump. 

”Nice one, bro! They say she’s a boss at Herbology.”

”Wait,” Cheryl closed her eyes and put her hands up, ”You partnered with _Betty Cooper?_ ”

”Yeah, why? What's the big deal?”

”What’s the big deal?” Josie repeated in a high pitched voice. ” _What’s the big deal?_ ”

”The big deal is that Betty has an absolute  colossal crush on Archie Andrews.” Cheryl filled in.

_ Oh. He should’ve known. _

He didn't know why that bothered him so much, but it did.

He must have visibly deflated because Cheryl gave him a sympathetic look and touched his hand with her fingers.

”Sorry, Jug. It looks like you really like her. And don't take this the wrong way, but I don't think you're really on her mind right now.”

He nodded. He wasn't offended, because Cheryl always told it how it was, no matter how painful.

She smiled and let go of his hand. Reggie leaned across the bench and tapped his knuckle.

”If it makes you feel any better, I heard Archie’s got a crush on a girl called Veronica. I don't think Betty and Archie are ever going to work out.”

Jughead nodded.

”Thanks, Reg,”

”No problem.”

Jughead looked over Reggie’s shoulder and sighed at the sight of Betty and Archie laughing together at another table. She spotted him and waved. He waved back and gave her a small smile. 

He looked away and sighed. How he was going to handle this, he had no idea.

  
—————

Betty bit her lip while she watched Jughead work in Defence Against the Dark Arts. Something had been on her mind for a while, and she had no idea how to shake it out, so she had decided to tell him to his face.

That is if she could work up the courage.

She’d seen him hanging out with a few people earlier that day, and they looked like they were having a lot of fun. What bothered her, though she didn't know why, was the constant arm touching and hand-holding going on between him and a red-headed girl called Cheryl Blossom, if she remembered correctly. 

She had dismissed it earlier because she was sure Cheryl didn't have a crush on him, but now she wasn't so sure.

A tap on her shoulder made her jump out of her thoughts, and she turned her head to see Jughead staring at her with curiosity. She smiled at him, and he raised his eyebrow back.

”You okay?”

”Yeah, good, I'm good.” She cleared her throat and smoothed down the nonexistent creases on her skirt, fixing him with another smile.

”Alright then,” He made to turn back around, ”that’s good.”

”Wait, Jughead,” She grabbed his shoulder, and he turned back around to face her.

”Yeah?”

”Uh,” God, she hadn't thought this through. ”I, uh, I saw you hanging out with Cheryl Blossom today.”

”Yeah, I was,” He folded his arms. He looked defensive.

“Are you, uh-you know,” she cleared her throat, before blurting out, “Do you have a crush on her or something?” Jughead widened his eyes and let his arms drop by his sides, and Betty felt the heat crawl up her neck.

“I mean, it’s okay if you do, it’s not any of my business or anything–“

“Betty,” he spoke softly but she could see the twinkle of mirth in his eyes. “Cheryl? Really? I couldn’t crush on her if I tried.” Betty’s shoulders relaxed and, though she couldn’t pinpoint exactly why she found herself breathing a sigh of relief.

“Okay, no problem, it’s fine,” she gave him a small smile and looked away. She spotted Archie from the other side of the room and waved. He waved back and held up his wand, which was illuminated at the tip. He said a word which she couldn’t hear, and the light went out. He winked at her and she looked back at her wand with a blush. When she looked up at him next, he was busy chatting with Veronica and she felt herself frown. Veronica was nice, but she felt like she was stealing Archie away from her. He’d never looked happier than he did with her. She felt the tears well up in her eyes and she blinked profusely to keep them in. Her mother always said that crying showed weakness. 

Betty looked back at Jughead and noticed he was looking at her with a frown, almost a scowl, on his face. “Something wrong?” She asked, suddenly guilty for whatever it was she had done.

“Nothing,” he replied curtly, tearing his eyes away and examining his wand. 

“Not nothing,” she coaxed his eyes back to her, “Did I do something?”

“Betty, it’s fine,” he waved at her dismissively. “Nothing’s wrong. I was just thinking.”

She wanted to ask what he was thinking about, but she knew it wasn’t her place to know, so she simply nodded and looked down at her lap.

The bell sounded for the end of class and, as the Professor gave out the set homework, Veronica pulled her to the side, and whispered in her ear, “Please save me from him. He won’t stop talking.”

Betty looked at her quizzically and then at Archie, who was already making his way towards them. She nodded and made his way over to him. 

“Hey, Arch–“ he interrupted her with his hand and she looked at it in confusion. 

“Sorry Betts, can’t talk. I have to walk Veronica to Flying.” He brushed past her and over to Veronica, who rolled her eyes before plastering a smile across her face. 

“Archie, I was just looking for you!” She spoke through gritted teeth and she could tell Archie was beaming at her, even with his back turned. 

“Sorry, I was walking towards you but then Betty got in my way. We can go now?” Veronica looked over Archie’s shoulder at Betty and she tried not to let the hurt show on her face. She fixed her with an apologetic look before turning back to Archie with a smile. 

“Sure thing, let’s go.” She pulled at Archie’s elbow and he followed her like a pining puppy. Betty sighed and picked up her bag from the floor. She couldn’t believe someone had managed to steal Archie away from her so quickly, even if it was unintentional.  


—————  
  


Betty was at the entrance to the Hufflepuff Tower when a hand gripped her shoulder. She turned around quickly and made to start running but the hand released her shoulder slightly and another hand grabbed onto her other shoulder. 

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” She relaxed and gripped onto their elbow.

“Jughead? What’s up?” He cleared his throat and fully released his grip.

“I wanted to say..goodnight. And sorry for being a jerk in DADA. And thank you for helping me in Herbology.” He scratched his neck and she could tell he was nervous. It made her smile a little.

“Thank you, it’s okay. You had things on your mind.”

“Still, I shouldn’t have taken it all out on you..” 

“Jughead, it’s okay,” she was smiling in amusement now, “I know what it’s like.” 

“Yeah. I’m sorry. Again.” She could see the self-deprecating smile on his face.

“It’s okay. Again.” He chuckled and she nodded at him with a smile. “Night, Jug.”

“Goodnight, Betty.” She found herself staring after him, curiosity biting at her mind. She had an overwhelming need to know what he had been thinking about but she knew it was none of her business, so with a sigh she went through the entrance to her dormitory. 

When she reached the common room, Kevin was sat on one of the chairs, eyebrow raised at her.

“And where have you been, Betty Cooper?”

“What’re you talking about Kevin? We both had school today.” She brought a hand to her face. “I’m tired, can we do this tomorrow?”

“No way, Betty, we’re doing this right now. How come I heard voices from upstairs? Yours, in specific?”

“What, do you have superhuman hearing or something? You heard nothing of the sort.”

“Yes I did,” He held up his makeshift ear in triumph. “Every single word.”

“Extendable ears? Really?” She dropped the hand on her face and glared at him. He waved her off with a scoff.

“Please, you knew I’d do this.”

“We’ve known each other for a day.”

“More than enough time to figure me out!” He leaned towards her in the chair. “I thought you were a better scrutiniser than that.” 

“Fine,” she threw her hands up in defeat. “You win. But can we do this tomorrow? Please? Promise I’ll be up early.”

“Alright then Elizabeth Cooper–”

“How do you know my full name?”

“Doesn’t matter. If you, Elizabeth  _ Ann _ Cooper, are not up tomorrow by _the_ _ crack of dawn _ _,_ ” he stopped his dramatic suspension abruptly, leaned back in his chair, hands on his lap, and fixed her with a sinister smile, “we will sit down and have this conversation in this room in front of  _ every Hufflepuff in this school.  _ Capeesh?”

He was right, she  _ didn’t  _ want to know. Something told her she shouldn’t underestimate his threats. Didn’t stop her from folding her arms and narrowing her eyes at him. “Fine, Kevin.”

“Good. See you at 6 am tomorrow!” He called after her as she left, rolling her eyes at his antics, but smiling to herself at the unlikely friends she’d made during her two day stay here. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all.

**Author's Note:**

> I’m sure I didn’t make them sound eleven, but they are, okay? Cool.
> 
> By the way, Cheryl and Jughead will never ever be a relationship in this. They are simply extremely close friends.
> 
> So, this was a short one, since it’s 3 AM and I’m tired. The next one will consist of sorting and classes, and maybe some new friendships? Who knows?
> 
> Anyway, comment your thoughts and please please subscribe if you’re interested!! You guys motivate me!!


End file.
